The Observatory by the Bay
by Star Captain Leigh
Summary: The resident astronomer of Grand Line City's observatory finds herself looking for a well known coffee shop, curious about what it's really like. Needless to say, the awkward astronomer finds herself swept up into the shenanigans that follow when you arrive at café on the corner.


With the Water 7 district being famous for its ship building company Galley-la, it was only logical that they were a lot closer to the ocean than anyone ever should be with the ridiculous weather that Grand Line endured. It was a beautiful section of the city, the seaside full of clear and sparkling water, ships constantly coming and going from Galley-la. It was bustling with life.

Across the water from the main area of Galley-l sat an observatory. It was a white building, multi-leveled with a split dome metal roof. It was usually open at night, the telescope usually pointed at the sky until the sun came up.

What was strange for this particular day, not that days in Grand Line weren't strange, was that the resident of the observatory was leaving the building in the middle of the day.

The resident of the observatory was technically its owner, though she wasn't the one with the title deed. The observatory was open for viewing hours from sunset to sunrise, though the scientific instruments were open to anyone at any time of day, if they could prove they knew what they were doing with them.

Though they certainly seemed uninviting, the resident was open to anyone who expressed interest in space and the stars. She was young, being 19 years old. She stands at the height of 5' 5" (she requests that you don't remind her she's smaller than most people around her), with messy dark brown hair that usually didn't want to look like anything less than bedhead and an odd golden gaze. The resident of the observatory was Perseus Lei, known better as Percy.

But that wasn't the point of this introduction. We were in the middle of discussing how Percy was leaving her home in the middle of the day.

Not that leaving the house was weird. No, that wasn't it. She wasn't that shut in or anything. It was just that she usually didn't leave during the day because she slept. But today she found herself on a mission.

On a mission to find a coffee shop.

* * *

 **January 31/Sunday/12:05 PM**

From what I had heard, the famous coffee shop was right between Paradise and New World, probably on the corner of Red Line. Which was convenient, because Red Line was literally what it was stated to be, a long red road.

It would have been so much easier if the wind wasn't threatening to blow me off my feet every few minutes though. I'm pretty sure I saw a woman practically racing down the street with an umbrella guiding her, instead of walking like a normal person. She looked like a citrus fruit, but she obviously knew what she was doing.

Meanwhile, I was struggling to even get down the road without smashing into anything that was outside of the shops.

Good job Percy, if only you had payed attention to the weather.

Another particularly strong gust of wind managed to make me stumble, before literally blowing me off my feet like I weighed nothing. It guided me way off my path, and I basically flew through the door of some storefront I had never seen before.

Right into someone else, who happened to tumble over onto the floor with me. Luckily, that stopped me from smashing my head through the floor.

"Maaaaaay, I swear I didn't do anything this time!" The, I assumed, boy, below me whined, pretty much throwing me off of him onto the floor.

Which, with my luck of course, smashed my head into the floor.

"I didn't throw a phonebook Luffy. The wind just blew someone in from outside." A woman's voice piped up next, and a head of brown hair entered my vision as she leaned over the counter. Before she could speak directly to me, another head of hair, this time black, filled my vision and I was forced to stare at a guy with a scar under his eye.

"Hey I don't recognize you!" I assumed his name was Luffy, that's what the lady behind the counter had called him. Luffy pointed a finger at my face. "Hey, you have freckles like Ace does! That's so cool!"

It was almost as if he forgot that I didn't know him, and he didn't know me.

"Uh, yeah. I do have freckles." I honestly couldn't think of anything better to say, because he was definitely right.

What I find myself staring at is this eccentric guy, who I feel like can't be older than me with the amount of energy pretty much radiating off of him. It's almost overwhelming. I backpedal a ways away from him, lest he manage to get any more into my personal bubble.

The lady behind the counter laughs a little to herself before coming over and lending me a hand off the floor.

"Don't mind him." She was trying to assure me this 'Luffy' person was no trouble, but I could pretty much tell I'd actually have to mind him. A lot. "I'm the owner of this café, Lily E. May. I don't think you've ever been here before."

I take a moment to think about why I had left the house so early.

This was that little corner coffee shop I had heard so much about while at Galley-la. The workers never could shut up about this 'May', as she apparently was pretty commonly known to help out. How a coffee store worker could help out the ship builders, I never quite pieced together. It probably had to do with coffee.

So of course naturally, after hanging around long enough I got curious and had to come find this shop. There was a tiny miscalculation in the matter, but it hadn't quite processed when I closed up the observatory for the morning.

"Since you're here, can I get you something?" She's once again behind the counter again, sliding some food down the counter to her overeager friend.

"Oh, me?"

"Yes, you." She laughs a little, and I find myself smiling back.

"Hot chocolate then, Miss Lily."

She hums a little, surprised by my response. I guess that's because most people who go to café's want coffee. "Call me May."

"Miss May it is."

While she's getting the hot chocolate ready, Luffy seems to have inhaled the food she gave him, and quite possibly the plate. Miss May certainly doesn't seem worried, so maybe she has edible plates for this guy.

"Do you have a name, or did the wind blow that away too?" I honestly don't think she's laughing at me, but she's obviously amused.

"Oh, me?"

"Well who else could she be talking to?" Luffy was actually asking though a mouthful of food, but he got the point across. How he wasn't choking… that was beyond me.

Miss May was just about finished with the cup of hot chocolate when I remembered to answer the question.

"My name, Miss May, is Percy."

I find the cup in my hands next, as Miss May handed it to me with a wide smile on her face.

"It's nice to meet you Percy!"

* * *

 **January 31/Sunday/1:00 PM**

I almost wish I had brought my camera along, Miss May has some really interesting friends.

After Luffy scarfed down enough food to feed an army, another guy that seemed to know them came in and pretty much dragged him upstairs. I'd like to note that this man was in a cowboy hat and shorts, no shirt whatsoever.

He said something about the police chasing him yet again before thundering up the stairs with Luffy in a headlock.

Miss May only shook her head, cleaning up behind the counter while I sat there really confused.

"I hope this doesn't happen that often, if you're only shaking your head about it…" I muttered.

As if on cue, the door to the café opened, revealing an extremely irritated police officer with white hair. I'm almost positive there was smoke radiating around him, even if he had just thrown his cigars to the ground when he came in.

Oh, it's Officer Smoker. He's always chasing the 'no good bastards' of the city around. Which I'm pretty sure consists of only a few select people, but they do lead him on wild goose chases a lot.

"Excuse me, did you see a man in the orange cowboy hat run past?!"

He looks absolutely livid, but the owner of the café isn't deterred by it.

"The half-naked freckled cowboy again?" May asks without looking up from the coffee pot she was cleaning.

So it really must be a regular occurrence.

"Yes, that one."

"Sorry, I haven't see him today."

"And what about you?" He looks at me, still scowling about this man who escaped him.

"I can't say that I have Officer Smoker." I give him a sad smile, because he looks like he's just about had it with this 'half naked cowboy'. "If I do I'm sure I'll let someone know."

"Sorry to have disturbed the café again. I'm going to catch this freckled bastard if it's the last thing I do." He leaves the shop as equally disgruntled as he entered, muttering obscenities about the 'cowboy culprit'.

It's at this point that I actually begin to wonder about May's sanity because she doesn't seem phased by the encounter in the slightest.

"Ace you can come down now Smoker's gone!"

After a few minutes the same guy comes running back down, with Luffy still in a headlock I might add.

"Thanks May, you're the best!"

"You idiots need to stop running here with the cops on your tail…"

I slink a little further into my chair, watching out of the corner of my eye. I had long since finished the wonderful hot chocolate, and had about half a muffin sitting in front of me.

"I'm telling you though, this time it wasn't my fault! The wind out there just carried the fire down the street!"

"Ace let me go!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry Luffy. Forgot you were there." This man, who I assume Luffy was referring to earlier when he commented on my freckles, was a piece of work. He literally slammed into the floor not a second later, Luffy barely escaping his grasp.

"Is… Is he dead?"

"Oh, don't worry about him Percy. He just fell asleep."

Again, May says this like it's perfectly normal for her. The look I gave her must have been really quizzical, because both she and Luffy laughed.

Ace lets out a 'snrk' before launching back up off the floor like it was nothing.

"Hey, who's this guy?"

I find myself hiding even more in my chair, drawing my knees up to my chest to hide my face. It wasn't like I wasn't used to someone referring to me as a guy, that didn't bother me. Having a stocky figure will do that for you.

It was the fact that this guy wasn't wearing a shirt, and dear whatever god was out there, please disregard what I say when I tell him to put one on.

* * *

 **January 31/Sunday/4:15 PM**

By the end of my 'people watching', as Miss May referred to it as, I had encountered a wide variety of people.

There was a swordsman who couldn't' tell his left from right. We spent a good 15 minutes watching him try to find the front door of the café. His hair was green like moss, and complained about May "moving her store again."

Two women, one with green and one with gold, came in a talked with May for a short while. They were both really tall and really pretty, though the one with mint colored hair didn't seem to enjoy May's gushing over them coming back again. I figured they must be close to 'regular' status, because May really does like he regulars.

A blonde man came in, literally gushing as he greeted May. He was definitely a chef, and had really long legs. Neither of those things are correlated, but it's all I could notice past his blubbering about how beautiful Miss May is.

I saw the woman that looked like citrus fruit again, this time skidding down the street after a young woman riding around on a large duck. Soon after there's a rush of these olive colored otters skidding down the road with even more large ducks following.

Even after taking a break from viewing the customers come and go, my face is still burning because I'm not used to people talking to me. I freak out easily, especially when they're attractive, but that's like every person in this city. Well, not every person, but a majority of them.

We should just call Grand Line something else. Like, 'Pretty City'.

I long since finished that muffin too, so I ran out of distractions.

"…cy… Per… Percy!"

I snap out of my daze fast enough to receive a phonebook to the forehead.

"I DIDN'T DO IT!"

"WHY WOULD YOU DODGE IT!?"

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP THROWING PHONEBOOKS DAMN IT!"

Holy hell that hurt.

I take a few moments to regain my bearings before sitting up on the floor. I rub the spot on my forehead where the phonebook attempted to drill into my head, wincing.

"You have quite the throwing arm on you Miss May…"

"I wasn't aiming for you!" She apologizes quickly, and before I can even blink, Luffy and Ace are on the floor in front of me with phonebooks firmly planted into their heads instead. "These morons broke Quintin again!"

What I find is that the table next to me has been smashed and May's leaning over it, clearly upset.

I can't help but smile a little, as she's clearly concerned about the poor table.

"That's 618 times now!"

I feel really bad now, because my smile bubbled into laughter. The three occupants of the café turned to me with really confused expressions.

Which was a given, but at the same time, I wasn't the weirdest thing about this day.

"I-I apologize Miss May!" I giggle, covering my mouth in an attempt to hide the laugh. "B-But I-I just find it re-really funny how chaotic this café really is!"

* * *

 _ **January 31/Sunday/2:30 PM**_

" _What brought you here today anyways Percy?"_

 _May was sitting atop the table next to me, watching the happenings of the city outside with me. It had been a little while since anyone had come in, and Luffy and Ace had left in order to 'go bother someone else for a change'._

 _She was drinking a cup of tea with some Sudoku in her lap, and I had another cup of cocoa in front of me._

" _Oh, me?"_

 _She nodded, sipping at her tea. "Yes you."_

" _I heard about you from Galley-La. I've taken a lot of pictures over there."_

" _I thought you were the astronomer at the Rising Dawn Observatory?"_

 _Which was true, I had said that._

" _I am, but the observatory doesn't stay busy that often… So I do photography in my free time."_

" _So the guys at Galley_ - _La told you to come here?"_

" _Oh, no. They just talked about how much they loved this café, and I just had to come check it out. I'm sorry if that's weird."_

 _I mean, if I hadn't just been sitting there for a few hours barely saying a word, that wouldn't have been weird. But I felt like I had overstayed my observation, and definitely didn't want Miss May to think I was a weirdo or anything._

" _It's always to have a new face here at the café."_

" _So you don't find my people watching weird?"_

" _Nope."_

" _The fact that 90 percent of the people that have come in think I'm a dude, that doesn't bother you?"_

" _I'll beat some sense into the guys later if I have to."_

" _Are you sure?"_

" _Totally."_

 _I smile for the first time since I came into the shop, which May brightens at. We both turn back to the window in time to catch more people running past. Some people are being knocked over by the wind, but not many. I guess they're pretty grounded._

 _A perfectly normal day for Grand Line._

" _Miss May?"_

" _Yes?"_

" _Has anyone ever told you your friends are hot? Because they are."_

 _She smacked me on the back of the head for that._

* * *

 **January 31/Sunday/4:30 PM**

The two guys in the shop give me really weird looks, but May just smiles at me despite her broken table. I'm still laughing, I'm crying a little too because I was laughing really hard. This shop really was something else.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll stop l-laughing I-I promise!"

Luffy beams at me, before joining in on my laughter.

Soon enough Ace and May are laughing too.

I don't remember the last time I smiled this much, and I really needed to get back to the observatory in order to open up for the night. But I was having way too much fun here. My cheeks actually hurt from how much I've laughed and smiled today.

It was a good thing I left out today to find this place.

I'd definitely have to come back.

* * *

 **Author's Corner: I've had this idea in my head for a while, and I know that jazzin juke has no plans to incorporate other OCs into The Cafe' on the Corner, but I couldn't help but have my own OC venture to the cafe in her own little adventure. Percy's a little awkward, but she fits right into the the crowd once she starts getting used to the shenanigans.**

 **Needless to say, happy one month anniversary of the story! I really enjoy it, and can't wait for more.**

 _ **-Star Captain, a.k.a Star Anon**_


End file.
